Birthday Wishes
by MomofPhoenix
Summary: Stephanie celebrates her birthday with a special MM. Tart


A/N not mine, I own nothing but the plot.

Happy Birthday Stephanie Plum! This is a birthday present I hope you enjoy. I turn 40 myself in exactly one week, Yikes!

Birthday Wishes

Well, it's that time of year again, my birthday. What am I doing tonight? Nothing. It's on a Thursday this year. My parents had dinner for me this past Sunday, since they will be on a cruise for the next two weeks. I had gone out with my friends to celebrate last weekend as well. My boyfriend? I don't have one of those.

Morelli and I had called it quits about four months ago. Ranger failed to fullfil his long ago promise of occupying my bed, plus he's not relationship material. Let's not forget that the pesky people he has a contract with sent him in some super secret spy shit. Oddly enough, I'm good with being alone this evening. I even have cake to celebrate.

My day went shockingly well. All of my skips came along without an issue. My car didn't go up in flames. I haven't found a single dead body. There were no weird or exotic animals appearing out of no where. All in all it had been the best day I've had in years. Hell, even the girls in the office bought me lunch today. Now that I think about it, probably I should be terrified. Eh, what's a girl gonna do?

I stick a single candle in my cake, light it, close my eyes and make a wish. After I blow out the candle, I open my eyes, cut myself a piece, and settle in in front of the TV.I decide not to watch Ghostbusters for once and settle on Once Upon a Time on one of those internet TV/movie providers. I had gotten rid of cable when I discovered that this was cheeper, plus I want my very own happily ever after too.

I'm at the point where Elsa has frozen the town in; looking for her sister, when there is a timid knock on my door. Checking the peep hole I see young woman holding a bouquet of flowers. I grabbed my wallet and opened the door.

"Flower delivery for Ms. Stephanie Plum," she said sweetly. I nodded and gave her a ten dollar tip. After thanking her I take the large bouquet of lillies, queen Anne's lace, lilacs, and baby's breath. It is an strange combination, but beautiful. The vase is black crystal with a lilac colored ribbon around the center. I spy a card attached and pray that it is not a stalker, it would be a miracle if it wasn't. I tend not to get flower from anyone other than them.

Opening the card, I was surprised to find that it was someone I know rather well. It says the following;

 _Steph,_

 _I have had the great honor of working with you for the past three years. You've always had my back and watched over me. You've taken care of me when I've been sick or injured._

 _I've watched as your had your heart broken over and over again. Tonight is about you. Please be ready by 8pm to go dancing with me. I want to celebrate your birthday with you._

 _Love,_

My tears had smeared the name at this point. I check the time and realize that I only have an hour to get ready. I jump up and run to the shower to freshen up quickly. I am wrapped in a towel and do my hair and makeup. Checking the time once again, I notice that I only have ten minutes left. I know that my date will be right on time. I rush to my closet and grab my red dress and black peep toe fmps. Just as I finished transferring my essentials from my large bag to my smaller one there is another knock at my door. Once again go through my routine of checking who it is and smile. My date is here.

He is dressed in beige cargo pants, and a sea foam green shirt that seems to be painted on his body. I had to check for drool, as I have never seen him out of uniform. His blonde hair is pulled back in a leather hair tie, and his eyes shine brightly.

"Beautiful, you look beautiful!" Lester exclaimed.

"Thank you. You look handsome yourself there Les."

He takes my hand and gently kisses it before asking, "are you ready to go?"

I nod and he gives me a smile that makes me melt. Probably, I should go change my panties, but I have a feeling that before the night is over I would run out of clean ones if I did that every time he looked at me. Hearing his chuckle I realized that I must have said that out loud. My face quickly was matching my dress.

He leans forward and places a soft kiss on my lips then offers me his arm. I lock the door as we leave. When we get to the parking lot there is no black vehicle in sight. There is, however, a baby blue 69 mustang convertible that he. leads me to. I guess I didn't hide myshock very well because Lester spoke up, "I only drive and wear black when on the clock. Tonight I am not even on call. I asked for this day months ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You must have other plans then. We don't have to do anything," Steph exclaimed.

He stopped me and pulled me to him just as we reached the car. "Stephanie, I asked for this day so I could spend it with you. That is still my plan," he slightly scolded me.

I nodded and flashed him a smile. He held the passenger door open for me and helped me with my seat belt. My curiosity was getting the better of me, but I restrained from asking any questions. If he wanted to surprise me, so be it.

It took forty five minutes, but we ended up at a beach. I could see a small canopy set up and a fire pit set and ready to light. I could only stare in shock as I saw a walk way leading to it with what looked to be a wooden platform set next to the canopy. We made our way towards it and Lester slipped my hand into his. I looked up into his green eyes and nearly got lost in them.

We made it to the canopy and he helped me into a seat at a small table with two candles and some crystal champagne glasses. I watched as he lit them, then went out to the fire pit and lit that as well. While he was doing that I noticed a small CD player on a table nearby. There was also two canvas hammocks with pillows and blankets in them. There was a small cottage not to far from where we had parked. I listened to the sounds of the waves crashing and could smell the salt in the air. The weather has been unusually mild for October in Jersey.

Lester came back and got into a small cooler that I had missed seeing. He pulled out a bottle of champagne, opened it, and began to pour it. He sat down and raised his glass to make a toast.

"Happy Birthday, Stephanie. May you have many more."

"Thank you," I replied as we clinked our glasses. After we took a sip he went to the CD player and started a song. He held out his hand for mine and lead me to the wooden platform, that I now realize is a makeshift dance floor. We began to dance. When the next song came on, I smiled. It was The Words, one of my favorites. I was just getting ready to tell him that when he spoke up first.

"Whenever I hear this song I think of you. I have a question I would like to ask you, but will you hear me out first?" I nodded in agreement. He continued, "I know that I'm not from the Burg, nor am I anything like Ranger, but I would like to tell you a few things about myself first.

"I grew up with Ranger, he's my cousin. His parents took me in when my family died in a car accident when I was five years old. I'm older than him by two years. A fact that irritates him to this day," he chuckled at that. "We spent our childhood together, until he was sent to our abuela. He knew that I planned to join the military, since there was no money for me to go to college. I could not ask my Tia and Tio to help, it wasn't their responsibility. Unlike Carlos, I went in right after high school. I was quickly accepted into Rangers training and had seen a lot of shit before Carlos appeared in my unit. I was so happy to see him there. I knew that it would be good for him. In some ways it was, but he lost a lot of himself to it.

"Anyway, I retired from the military all together in June of this year. I won't be a lifer like him. I knew that I wanted to find someone special and settle down, but they would need to be strong and faithful. They would have to be their own person; not willing to conform to conventional things. I'm far from conventional.

"I have two degrees. One in business and one in history. I would like to get my teaching certificate and teach world history to high school students. I think I would be good at that. It's something that I'm working on now. I don't have classes until Monday, so I was hoping that you would be willing to spend the weekend with me just getting to know each other. The little house you see behind us is one of mine and this beach is private."

"Yes, Lester, I'd like that, but I don't have anything with me and Rex is at home."

"I grabbed a bag for you while you were catching skips today and Tank will watch Rex if you want to stay."

"Absolutely!"

He spun me around and moved me into a dip. As he brought me up he placed a soft kiss on my lips and said, "Happy birthday, Beautiful."


End file.
